


Her Guardian Angel

by Syven



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 06:00:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11224791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syven/pseuds/Syven
Summary: Written for the wonderful Artemis Day!  Bucky rescues the woman he's been pining after and fluff ensues despite a little angst.





	Her Guardian Angel

Already a month had passed since Jane had been very quickly and neatly moved into the Avenger tower. The ‘war’ between the members had been over for more than a year and a kidnapping attempt in Hawaii had prompted Tony Stark to offer her an entire floor for R&D along with roof space for a telescope or four. Mauna Kea had been her home for the previous three years, so the move had been bittersweet, but at least in NYC, no one would stop her on the street to ask her about her very public dumping of Thor.

It had been more of a _‘look I like you and you like me, but we’re both too focused on our work so let’s just be friends’_ kinda thing, but try to tell that to the press. 

Jane had met most of the Avengers years before so passing a dark-haired man with a mechanical arm in the hall had peaked her curiosity. A friend of Captain Rogers, Pepper had said. Bucky Barnes. War Hero, Brainwashed HYDRA Assassin Super Soldier. Winter Soldier. Those last words had struck a cord. She’d remembered seeing news reports, but Jane couldn’t fully reconcile the quiet, polite, ruggedly handsome man that she sometimes shared an elevator with with the reports. There was something about him that drew her attention whenever she saw him. 

Her schedule was insane, naturally. She was on a four month deadline to finish constructing the second Gate for the planned Earth to Proxima Centauri to Kepler portal jump. Still, even with a tight schedule, Jane made time every morning to go for a jog. It helped her clear her head and work through problems with a little music playing in her headset. 

In shorts and a t-shirt that said ‘Never trust an atom, they make up everything”, Jane sprinted off to the left of the front tower door, heading down the sidewalk at a quick pace, the drone of her music was just loud enough to block out the street sounds and she wound around the pedestrians without trouble. 

Turning the block, Jane was in mid-stride when someone stepped into her path, knocking her to the cement and the door of a van parked at the curb slid open. The sickening sweet scent in the cloth pressed to her nose was the last thing she knew before the darkness rose up to pull her down. Less than 20 feet away, Bucky raced forward with a burst of speed, tossing two of the men against the side of the brick building as the van began pulling away. He sprinted after the van, weaving between traffic for 12 blocks before the van managed to pull away. 

He’d managed to toss a tracker on the bumper before it got out of range and his phone was halfway out of his pocket before he stopped running, not even winded. When Steve answered, Bucky gave him the quick run down as he raced back to the Tower. A motorcycle and his gear was waiting for him in the garage. Bucky pulled on his tactical gear, stowing gun after gun into the various holsters and strapping his bagged rifle to the side of the motorcycle. Steve showed up as Bucky was straddling the cycle and he synced their radio frequency to 11 before jogging over to his own cycle, his shield on his back, but dressed in normal clothing. Bucky, however, was not. All in black, with his mechanical arm free to move, he steered the bike out onto the street with Steve following. The ping on the tracker kept moving North, quickly. The interstate. He took a shortcut and gunned the engine, racing through alleys and side streets to get on the interstate, Steve hot on his wheels. 

It was in a small, rural town in Connecticut that the signal stopped for 30 minutes and then began moving again, Bucky making a note of the pause and when he arrived at the location, he waved Steve ahead to follow the signal, looking around at surrounding the landscape. There was a small general store, a gas station with an elderly owner leaning against the door frame watching him, and a small, brick library that was closed. Nothing stood out. He scanned the horizon, the treeline and that’s when he spotted a dirt driveway heading into a cusp of trees. Bucky steered his bike down the path, letting the bike coast silently until he spotted what looked like an old barn. He wheeled the bike off the path and into the undergrowth, crouching there as he scanned slowly around himself, noting a guard 100 yards to the East and another coming around from behind the barn.

His guns, even suppressed, would be heard. He slipped a knife from his waist holster and crept silently towards the closer guard, coming up behind him like a ghost. Bucky didn’t want to kill the man, so he slammed his metal fist against the guard’s temple knocking him out instead. He frisked the body, finding zip lock strips that he used to tie the man’s hands and ankles. Tearing a strip of fabric from the guard’s shirt, he stuffed it into his mouth roughly. One down. 

Like a ghost, he slipped through the forest to the other guard, repeating what he’d done with the first and dragging the unconscious body into the undergrowth. Bucky slid along the side of the barn cautiously, listening for the slightest clue. Nothing. He used the blade of his knife to check around the corner and saw no one walking about, though he spotted a steel door - definitely something out of place out here. Bucky found the door unlocked and slipped inside to find an elevator shaft. He looked up, noting the maintenance panels and he jumped up, pushing one aside to haul himself up into the ceiling. He replaced the panel behind him and navigated through the duct work to the shaft. The elevator car was right there and he lowered himself onto the roof silently.

Bucky only had to wait a minute before the car descended and when it came to a stop, he heard two men getting into it. He eased the rescue panel up and dropped down onto them quickly, grabbing their heads and slamming them together. The men slid to the floor and he stepped over them. Bucky made his way through the level, searching for the little scientist, disabling all that he could and neutralizing those whom he could not. These wore HYDRA markings. He wasn’t bothered by what he had to do.

It was in the second to last room that he found her. She was on a metal examination bed, strapped down, with an IV was already in the back of her hand. Bucky slipped into the room behind the lab coated tech and slit his throat. The first thing he did was pull the IV from her hand, hoping that whatever sedative they’d given her hadn’t had a lot of time to work then he made short work of the straps. She was shivering, trembling, and he recognized the reaction with grim certainty as he quickly shucked off his jacket to wrap her in it, zipping it up to maximize the heat. 

“Doctor Foster,” he spoke as loudly as he dared, brushing her hair back from her face. She looked angelic and his heart clenched at the thought of why they could have wanted her. Her beauty was radiant. He’d seen her around the tower, had asked Steve about her and had even taken to watching her on the rooftop at night. Smart, beautiful, and ambitious. So many times, he’d wished for words - words that could make her notice him and here she was, fragile and helpless. 

Bucky swept her small body up into his arms, and she murmured something softly, her hand lifting to cling to his shoulder. “I’ve got you. I won’t let them hurt you, мой котенок.”

Getting out of the facility quickly was the key and he carried her to the elevator, stepping over the bodies and getting it moving again. He heard a shout above just before it reached the surface and he set Jane down near the control panel and pulled out a pistol. He stood over her, out of sight and when the doors opened, two men rushed in. With lightning reflexes, Bucky pushed them against the far wall, and pulled the trigger twice. Tap. Tap. The sound of the shots rang out loudly and he scooped Jane up quickly, racing for the trees as soon as they were clear of the door. He heard shouts in the front so Bucky looped around through the forest until he got to his bike. 

Jane felt herself being carried and she struggled to wake up. Her focus wavering, but she could see a broad chest and feel the solidity of the shoulder she was touching. She could also feel the rigidity of the arm holding her. Bucky Barnes. The wave of relief was overwhelming. “Sar… Sergeant Barnes,” she whispered and his arm tightened as he looked down at her, his expression guarded.

“You’re safe, Doctor Foster,” he told her softly, shifting her as he straddled the bike, holding her with one arm. Once he started it, they would know where they were, but he didn’t plan on being there when they did. 

“I need you to hold onto my belt,” Bucky instructed and after a moment, she managed to get her fingers around it. Her legs were over his thigh and he was acutely conscious of her small body pressed to his. He kicked the bike over, gunning it onto the dirt path and then out onto the street, sliding around the corner and across to a side street. They would expect him to take the direct route. After several turns and a couple of miles, he pulled behind a closed post office. Hitting his radio, he brought Steve up to speed and agreed to a rendezvous point and time. 

“Where are we? Why did we stop?” she asked when he’d signed off the radio. They were still, the bike was no longer rumbling, and she was feeling the effects of the sedative wearing off. Jane was swimming in the warmth of his jacket and his scent surrounded her in a way that was coyly intimate. 

A large but gentle hand brushed her hair back and Jane found herself looking up at his rugged jawline then meeting his slate blue gaze. The way he looked at her made her heart flutter. “How do you feel?” he asked, his fingers lingering in her hair.

“Unfocused, weak, dizzy,” she answered, pulling his jacket closer, a slight flush rising on her cheeks. He was a handsome man and she was clearly under the influence of some kind of drug that was dulling her senses. The last thing she needed to do was to embarrass herself with some imagined attraction. She refocused herself. “How long… did they have me?”

“15 to 20 minutes before I found you,” Bucky answered, his gaze flicking up and surveying the surroundings with sharp attention. Nothing moved. He’d gone in the opposite direction than they would expect and then he’d stopped well within their territory, something else they wouldn’t expect. 

She tried to sit up, but she had no strength. Jane tried to think of what kind of sedative could do that, but even that was out of her reach. As she tried to focus, she became acutely aware of his muscular thigh under hers, of the sound of his heart beating under her ear, the solidity of his chest. How many times had Darcy spoken of him - talking about him as if he were an object, but on more than one occasion, she’d dreamed of him. Not that she would tell Darcy that! 

Jane shifted against his chest, curling her arms around her waist “Thank you,” she whispered, resting her forehead against his shoulder for a moment before nodding. “For everything.”

Bucky was as aware of her as she was of him. This woman who he’d watched from afar, that he dreamed of, was right here in his arms, just not in the way he’d hoped for. He’d wanted to talk to her beyond an awkward ‘hi’ in the elevator, but he hadn’t worked up his courage. He was still a broken man, with broken memories, and horrific nightmares that woke him every night. She deserved someone like Steve, but that didn’t stop him from wishing she could see him. 

The urge to hug her, to comfort her, was strong, but he just nodded as he looked around again, taking in the quiet street, the For Sale signs on two of the homes across the street and the Post Office signage above them. It wasn’t a big building. Suburbia. “Where are we?” she asked softly.

“Connecticut,” he answered, shifting on the bike to put his foot on one of the pegs in preparation to start it. “We need to get moving.” Looking down, Bucky lifted the collar of his jacket and gently tucked her hair under it. “We have an hours ride. Rest if you can, I’ve got you,” Bucky told her as he kicked the bike over. 

It rumbled to life and Jane curled her fingers over his belt as she had before and he shifted how he was sitting to draw closer to her. For her stability, he told himself. The ride was a quiet one, with Bucky sticking to back roads and doing nothing to attract attention to them. He finally pulled into a church parking lot, cutting the engine as he did to coast. 

The press of her temple to his chest had gotten heavier as the ride progressed and it wasn’t a surprise that she blinked sleepily up at him. His heart panged hard as her soft gaze rose to meet his. “You smell nice,” she murmured sleepily, her forehead dropping to rest against the hollow of his throat. It took him a second to realize she was still asleep and he did his best to calm the racing of his heart. He curled his arms around her to keep her from falling if she shifted, though deep down he knew she wouldn’t. 

Steve pulled into the parking lot five minutes later and it was only then that the Quinjet materialized and the cargo ramp lowered. Bucky waited until Steve had pushed his bike inside before scooping Jane up into his arms. She mumbled something and snuggled closer as Steve came down the ramp, arching an eyebrow at him before gesturing that he should go aboard. Bucky carried her into the cockpit with him and settled into the co-pilot’s seat. Steve joined him a few minutes later and the cargo bay ramp closed in the back of the jet. 

“Still sedated? I thought they used chloroform,” Steve asked, though he kept his voice down. 

Bucky shook his head, glancing down. He paused for a moment, brushing her hair away from her face, before answering. “They used Chloro to get her off the street, but she had an IV line in her hand when I found her. Steve, they were going to put her in stasis,” he explained, a hard edge to his tone. 

There was a long pause as Steve flipped the switches to get the Quinjet into the air. He’d watched his friend pine over the little scientist for a while and he’d encouraged him several times, but now, it hurt his heart to see how untroubled Bucky was around her. He spoke softly. “Don’t be me, pal. Don’t waste your chance.”

“She deserves better,” Bucky replied gruffly, but he looked down at her sleeping form thoughtfully.

Steve nodded, but said. “Maybe. And just maybe you should let her decide that.”

The remainder of the flight back was quiet with Jane shifting minutely on Bucky’s lap in her sleep, her fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt, sleepily nuzzling her nose against the hollow of his throat. They landed at the tower and a medical team was waiting to whisk Jane away, but she wouldn’t let go of him so Bucky carried her down to the medical wing. It was only with his gentle prying that she finally released his shirt and the doctors looked her over. 

She woke finally to the scent of roses and the feel of a large, warm hand covering hers, blinking her eyes open to see Bucky had rested his arms and head on the side of her bed and he was holding her hand. Reaching over with her free hand, Jane touched his hair, sifting the soft locks between her fingers. On the nightstand was a bouquet of pale lavender roses and memories flitted in and out of her thoughts. _His arms. His scent. His careful attention. His intent gaze. His hand on hers. He was here._ Even for the Avengers, how scared was she to take a chance that she was still trying to convince herself that this was somehow a ‘duty’ for him?

“Не останавливаться, мой котенок,” he murmured sleepily, his hand giving hers a small squeeze, but his thumb was slowly caressing the back of her hand in gentle strokes.

Her hand stilled in his hair and Jane caught her bottom lip between her teeth, sending a silent word of thanks to the universe because if she thought his voice was sexy normally, hearing him speak Russian was in a completely different universe entirely. Jane took a deep breath and said. “Что, если я хочу больше?”

He sat up immediately, a look of surprise on his face, hope glinting in his gaze, his hand tightened on hers. “You speak Russian!”

“Da,” Jane laughed. “I taught a special lecture series on advanced Astrophysics at the Moscow University six years ago and I still keep in touch with some of the professors.” She smiled happily, taking in his features. He looked tired and she realized he must have been sitting with her for… well, she didn’t even know how long she’d been asleep. “What time is it?”

“I think a better question is what day is it. You’ve been out of it for two days,” Bucky responded with a soft smile. Behind him was a window and the sky was dark. “How do you feel?”

With her free hand, Jane found the button to raise the head of the bed a little and it didn’t make her head spin, so she counted that as a victory. She tried to sit up on her own, but her strength was still gone. “Weak. What did they do to me? Why do they want me?”

His expression sobered and he glanced down at her hand curled in his, silent for a long minute before he answered grimly. “It’s the stasis drugs. They were prepping you for stasis. If they’d succeeded, I might not have found you.” He paused, a sardonic laugh slipping from his lips. “Why? Because you’re Stark without the Ironman suit to protect you.”

“But you did,” she whispered, squeezing his hand. All the time they’d passed each other in the halls or shared the elevator, all the time she’d thrown away being scared to get involved again, it seemed like a terrible waste now. “They weren’t counting on my guardian angel.”

Bucky smiled then, lifting her hand to his lips and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “I’m no angel, sweetheart, but I would appreciate it if you used the treadmills on Level 82 in the future.”

“Я твой котенок?” she whispered, reaching out. Her fingertips danced along his jawline. She was bone tired, true, but Jane was done with wasting time. She wasn’t going to run anymore. “Потому что я хочу быть.”

His eyes widened, but he nodded quickly, a smile spreading on his lips, his face lighting up. She’d never seen him so happy. “Da,” Bucky responded firmly, standing and then sitting on the edge of her bed. His fingers, cool and silver, slipped against her jaw as his lips closed over hers, firm and hungry, and Jane reached up to thread her fingers into his silky hair, returning into his kiss. Warmth pooled in the pit of her stomach and the butterflies there danced wildly. Both were breathing in fast, shallow bursts of air when he finally drew back the smallest bit, his forehead pressing to hers, noses touching. His slate blue gaze spoke of a deeper need being held in check and it made her heart race.

Just then, the door opened and a nurse stepped in, stopping in surprise as she took them in. She stammered. “You can’t be here! Doctor Foster is supposed to be resting!”

“He stays or I leave,” Jane told her firmly, giving his hand a squeeze when she felt him starting to move. He stilled at her touch and the nurse just gaped at her. “Could you dim the lights on your way out, please?” she added, looking up at Bucky.

The lights dimmed down to near darkness and the door shut behind the nurse. Jane shifted on the bed, edging over as she made room. Bucky eased down on the bed, drawing her close into his arms and she curled against his side. He brushed her hair back from her face and for all the delicious heat of his kiss, there was a tenderness in his gaze that made her heart skip a beat. 

“You should know - I’m never letting you go,” he murmured, nuzzling her nose with his own.

Jane savored the feel of his arms around her again, his warmth, his solidity, and his scent. She felt safe and home. As sleep began to overtake her again, she whispered. “Good.”

In the morning, Steve followed the nurse into the room and then grabbed her by the arm, guiding her out gently, when he took in Bucky and Jane tangled together on the bed, the bed-covers pushed away. Her head was tucked under his chin and Steve saw Bucky’s eyelids part at the sound, looking back at him evenly before he nodded gently, his eyes closing again as he rested his cheek on the top of her head.

Steve slowly closed the door and left word with the staff to leave them alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love!
> 
> *Disclaimer: I only speak a couple of words in Russian and relied on Google translate. Corrections are welcome!
> 
> мой котенок  
> My kitten
> 
> Не останавливаться мой котенок  
> Do not stop, my kitten
> 
> Что, если я хочу больше?  
> What if I want more?
> 
> Я твой котенок? Потому что я хочу быть.  
> Am I your kitten? Because I want to be


End file.
